The Waters Avenue Dig Was Supposed To Start This Fall. The County's Own Page Says Otherwise.

Hillsborough County's own project page now puts construction on the Waters Avenue sewer line in mid-2027, not this fall. That page also describes a shorter route that starts at BJ's Wholesale instead of Sheldon Road and finishes in early 2029. If you set aside this October and November for detours to Walmart or Maikel's Bakery, you can let them go. If you plan around Waters Avenue for errands, a commute, or a move in 2027, the county's documents are where the real schedule lives.

What Town 'N Country heard in July

On July 13, the county held an open house at the Town 'N Country Regional Public Library to walk residents through the Waters Ave Forcemain Replacement. A week later, Tampa Bay Beacons reported the county would "begin work this fall" on the project. The story described a $50 million job replacing 22,000 feet of 24-inch force main. The new line would run inside the existing road right-of-way for four miles, from west of North Manhattan Avenue to Sheldon Road, passing under the Veterans Expressway, with completion expected by early 2028.

The reason for the project has stayed the same. A 2021 assessment found the existing pipe's performance had declined and concluded it had to be replaced to keep sewer service reliable. The new line adds air release valves, which keep gas from building up inside the pipe. Nobody is questioning whether the pipe gets replaced. The open questions are when, and along which stretch of Waters.

Four county documents, four versions of the schedule

The county has published at least four documents about this one project, numbered CIP 10323000. They don't agree with each other, and the disagreements explain what happened.

The February factsheet carries the most telling detail. Even with the full $50 million, Manhattan-to-Sheldon scope, it already listed construction completion as early 2029. That means early 2028 was out of step with the county's own schedule months before the July open house. The 2029 date isn't a new delay. It's the date the county's tracking had been showing all along.

The dollar figures can be reconciled the same way. The highlight page says $24 million has been budgeted for "the design and initial kickoff of construction." That wording suggests the $24,000,283 on the live page reflects money budgeted so far, not a promise that the whole job costs half of what was reported. The county hasn't said so directly, so treat the $24 million and $50 million figures as separate measures, not a price cut.

The live page also comes with a disclaimer worth knowing about:

"Note: The cost and schedule data shown here are the County's current best estimates and are subject to frequent change. Changes (if any) are updated weekly."

The February factsheet says its figures update once a month. When the two disagree, the weekly page is the fresher one.

The route got shorter at the Sheldon end

The scope change matters more to daily life than the date change. The current CIP page describes 15,500 feet, or 2.95 miles, of pipe "between BJ wholesale club (7651 W Waters Ave, west of Hanley Road) and Manhattan Avenue." That's roughly 6,500 feet shorter than the 22,000-foot version, and the missing piece sits at the west end, between Sheldon Road and BJ's.

The county's temporary traffic control maps were drawn for the longer route, so they show what that western stretch would have involved. The Phase 1 map starts at Sheldon Road and labels the following along W Waters Ave:

• Sheldon Road end: a Shell station, Papa John's, Suncoast Credit Union and a Chevron, with a signalized intersection marked closed
• Middle of the stretch: Jamaica Jamaica Island Cuisine, a Caribbean sandwich shop, Sunshine Animal Hospital, Public Storage and O'Reilly Auto Parts
• Approaching Hanley Road: BJ's Wholesale, GTE Financial, Olivos, Maikel's Bakery, PNC Bank, Panda Express and Walmart

Under the current CIP description, the work would start at BJ's. That would leave the Sheldon intersection and the block with Jamaica Jamaica Island Cuisine and Sunshine Animal Hospital outside the construction zone. The county hasn't said whether that stretch was dropped, moved into a separate phase, or handled some other way. It's still an open question, and the Phase 1 map is still posted on the project page without a note explaining the difference.

East of BJ's, the maps line up with the current scope. The Phase 2 map labels Walgreens, Chick-fil-A, Panera Bread, Wells Fargo and Pollo Tropical along Waters. Phase 3 runs toward Century Plaza and North Manhattan Avenue. These maps are advance plans. They show where lane shifts and driveway work are expected once crews arrive, not current closures.

The filing that shows where things stand

Hillsborough posts notices for some contracts before it formally puts them out for bid. The current list includes RPS-26-00423, "Waters Avenue Force Main Replacement CEI Services." It's a request for proposals for construction management, engineering and inspection on this project, estimated at $2.2 million, with issuance expected October 13, 2026.

That filing is nine days away, and it fits the live page's "Procurement" phase. The county is still hiring the firm that will oversee construction. No construction contract award or contractor name has turned up yet. A dig that starts after the inspection team is in place, and after a builder is selected, lines up with mid-2027 much better than with October 2026. That reading is ours, not the county's, but every document we found supports it.

If you want to follow the project yourself, the record builds in a predictable order:

1. The CEI solicitation goes live. Once issued, RPS-26-00423 appears on the county's Euna Procurement portal at hillsboroughcounty.bonfirehub.com.
2. A construction solicitation appears on the same county notice page or portal. None was listed in what we reviewed.
3. The CIP page phase changes from "Procurement" to construction, and the start date either holds at mid-2027 or moves. The page updates weekly.
4. Closures show up on the county's live road-closure map. Hillsborough's road and lane closures page points to a One.Network map instead of posting text advisories.

For anything the documents don't answer, such as whether the Sheldon-to-BJ's stretch is still planned, the CIP page lists the project line at 813-635-5400 and has a public comment form.

Meanwhile, at the corner where the old route ended

The Sheldon Road end has another open county question. In April, a Town 'N Country coalition asked Hillsborough County to turn the vacant county parcel at Sheldon Road and Waters Avenue into a park connected to the Upper Tampa Bay Trail. The parcel sits beside Rocky Creek, across from Northwest Dog Park and the Northwest Bus Transfer Center. Ideas raised at the April 8 meeting included a splash pad, pickleball courts, a lighted track, a playground, picnic pavilions, a kayak and canoe launch, and a trail connection. Commissioner Harry Cohen said an environmental study would come first, and that his goal was at least to open the fenced parcel as green space.

We found no later report of a study, funding vote or opening. Like the western stretch of the sewer route, the parcel's future is still undecided, and it sits at the same intersection.

For now, Waters Avenue looks the same this fall as it did in the summer. The next concrete step is the October 13 inspection-services solicitation, and the dig itself is listed for mid-2027 on the stretch from BJ's Wholesale to Manhattan Avenue.

If you're timing a sale, a purchase, or a move-in day near Waters Avenue in 2027, plan around the construction window before it starts. At Ryan Block Realty, Ryan follows county records like these so listing photos, showings and closing dates don't land on top of a lane closure. Let's connect.